Audi halts diesel A6 deliveries
German luxury brand Audi has stopped production of its latest A6 model over suspicions it contains software to manipulate emissions controls, German media reported on Tuesday.
Confirming a report in news weekly Der Spiegel, Germany's transport ministry said it was investigating the use of a new "illegal defeat device" in some 60,000 Audi cars, half of which are driving on German roads.
According to Spiegel, the current A6 model is equipped with software that deliberately slows down the use of a special pollution-cleaning fluid in the final 2,400 kilometres of its lifespan, to avoid drivers having to refill the so-called AdBlue liquid in between regular service updates. But reducing the AdBlue function also drastically lowers its effectiveness in neutralising the engine's harmful nitrogen oxides, making the diesel cars far more polluting during that time.
"An official recall for at least the affected Audi cars registered on German roads is highly likely," Spiegel wrote, without citing its sources. "Production of the model has been halted in the meantime," it added.
Audi said it would release a statement on the matter later on Tuesday.
It's not the first time the German car industry has been accused of AdBlue tampering, with Daimler and Volkswagen both facing the threat of mass recalls over similar accusations in February.
The alleged AdBlue scam differs from the one that sparked Volkswagen's "dieselgate" crisis in 2015, when the auto giant admitted to installing software in some 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide that could detect when a vehicle was undergoing pollution tests and reduce emissions accordingly.
